Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov presented a draft 2004 budget to the
cabinet on 5 June, predicting 5 percent growth for the year and
inflation of 10 percent, RIA-Novosti and strana.ru reported. He said
the government plans to stimulate the economy and increase budget
revenues through significant tax reductions and measures to curb
inflation. Finance Minister Aleksei Kudrin said budget priorities will
include increased defense expenditures to finance reforms, a strong
commitment to law enforcement, and fulfilling social-security
obligations. He conceded that the growth-rate assumption in the draft
budget, just 0.5 percentage points above predictions for 2003, are
insufficient in light of President Vladimir Putin's recent pledge to
double the size of the Russian economy in the next decade (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 16 May 2003). But Kudrin added that growth might increase as
the effects of economic reform kick in over the following years. VY

The strana.ru website on 5 June noted a seeming lack of coordination in
economic policy between the government and the presidential
administration, citing the disparity between Putin's mid-May pledge and
Kasyanov's budget assumptions. The website claimed the economy needs to
show 7.2 percent expansion to grow in line with the president's
statements, not the 5 percent that Kasyanov predicted for 2004.
Strana.ru also said the government and the Kremlin appear to differ on
the appropriate tools for stimulating the economy, with Kasyanov
speaking of tax cuts and combating inflation while presidential adviser
Andrei Illarionov has proposed the creation of a stabilization fund and
continued reforms of the tax system. VY

In a meeting with students who had won a competition called "My home is
my country," President Putin said that two presidential terms should be
sufficient and that the constitution should be cherished and not
amended to meet the tastes of those in power, Radio Mayak reported on 5
June. Analysts have for some time been speculating that either Putin or
his supporters might seek to alter the constitution so that the popular
president could serve more than two consecutive terms. Last week,
Communist State Duma deputy Vasilii Shandybin commented on former U.S.
President Bill Clinton's suggestion that the U.S. Constitution might be
amended so that a president could serve more than two terms as long as
they were not consecutive. "It's easier to do this in Russia than in
the United States," he said, Ekho Moskvy reported on 29 May. "Some
instigators will take this [idea] on board, and they'll say: 'Let's
elect Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin for 10 terms! He's young, let's
elect him for 10 terms.'" JAC

President Putin is enjoying high popularity ratings not only in Russia,
but in many Western countries as well, "Vedomosti" reported on 5 June,
citing a poll conducted by the U.S.-based Pew Research Center among
16,000 respondents in 20 countries. Some 75 percent of Germans, 54
percent of Canadians, 53 percent of Britons, 48 percent of French, and
45 percent of Italians approve of Putin, according to the poll. The
editor in chief of "Russia in Global Affairs," Fedor Lukyanov, noted
that Russia's image abroad remains largely negative. "For most
foreigners -- like most Russians -- Putin's image is one thing and
Russia's image is another," he said. VY

The legislative assemblies of Perm Oblast and Komi-Permyak Autonomous
Okrug have confirmed the package of documents necessary for holding a
referendum on merging the two regions, Russian media reported on 5
June. Twelve out of 14 deputies in the okrug legislature voted on 3
June to support the project, Novyi region reported the next day. In
Perm Oblast's legislature, the vote on 5 June was unanimous in favor of
the merger, newsru.com reported. The deputies believe the referendum
will take place in December of this year. According to the documents
that were approved, an election for the leader of the new, enlarged
region, which will be called Perm Krai, will take place in December
2005. A single budget for Perm Krai will come into force in 2008,
according to regions.ru. JAC

[06] NATIONALITIES MINISTER VOWS THAT REGIONAL CONSOLIDATION WON'T BE
IMPOSED FROM THE TOP

The government minister overseeing nationalities policy, Vladimir
Zorin, said in Moscow on 5 June that the merging of regions will be not
be administered from above, but rather carried out from below,
"according to the will of the population and the Constitution of the
Russian Federation," Russian news agencies reported. Thirty-two of the
federation's 89 constituent entities are arranged on the principle of
national territories, including 21 republics, 10 autonomous oblasts,
and one autonomous district, he said. The "titular" nationality
represents a majority in just seven of those 32 entities, Zorin added.
VY

Unified Energy Systems head Anatolii Chubais announced on 5 June that
he has decided to sell his shares in TVS because his views on the
channel's future differ from those of other shareholders, Interfax
reported. Chubais said he plans to sell the shares to TVS Chairman Oleg
Kiselev and Neft head Igor Linshits, "Vremya novostei" reported the
next day. The daily concluded that Chubais' departure signifies the
victory of Russian Aluminum head Oleg Deripaska and financier Aleksandr
Mamut. Last April, a group of TVS shareholders led by Deripaska offered
Chubais $10 million for a 45 percent package of shares. Chubais was
supposed to reach a decision by 23 May but the deadline slipped by
without an announcement from him. On 4 June, Media Minister Mikhail
Lesin met with Chubais and Deripaska and reportedly told them that a
decision had to be made, warning that the ministry would not tolerate a
"blank screen" on the frequency, "Vremya novostei" reported on 5 June.
JAC

A 21-year-old resident of the city of Vakhrushev in Sakhalin Oblast has
been hospitalized with symptoms resembling those of severe acute
respiratory syndrome (SARS), Russian media reported on 5 June.
According to the head of the oblast health care department, 19 patients
who came into contact with the patient have also been placed in
isolation, Interfax reported. On 6 June, a group of experts is expected
to arrive in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to confirm or refute the initial
diagnosis, utro.ru reported. Meanwhile, a Volgograd TV station reported
on 4 June that the city has spent 6.2 million rubles (almost $203,000)
on measures to prevent the possible occurrence of SARS, such as
ordering protective clothing for medical personnel and disinfectant for
vehicles, regions.ru reported. According to the director of the city's
health care department, Yevgenii Galkin, last year 7 percent of the
people infected with simple pneumonia there died. JAC

St. Petersburg Deputy Governor Anna Markova announced on 5 June that
she will participate in the city's next gubernatorial elections,
RosBalt reported. Markova said that she hoped to "preserve the remains
of democracy" in the city with her candidacy, adding that it is "no
secret that an artificially importunate election campaign for one
person [presidential envoy to the Northwest Federal District Valentina
Matvienko]" has already been launched. Vladimir Vasilev, a specialist
in political psychology at St. Petersburg State University, told
RosBalt that with Markova's candidacy, "the public struggle for the
status of successor to [current Governor Vladimir] Yakovlev has begun."
According to Vasilev, Yakovlev has retained the support of 15 to 20
percent of the city's electorate, and Markova "presents the greatest
threat to [State Duma Deputy] Oksana Dmitrieva, who is also competing
for the role of successor." In a poll conducted last February,
Dmitrieva had the most support among the hypothetical list of
candidates, which did not include Markova (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 21
February 2003). JAC

An unspecified number of members of the National Bolshevik Party (NBP)
organized a protest against police harassment on 5 June in Moscow,
polit.ru reported. According to the website, the demonstrators were
particularly displeased by the response of St. Petersburg police to an
anti-globalization demonstration held on 18 May. NBP activist Yurii
Kirilchuk told the website that for the last two weeks, police in
various cities have simply not left party members alone but have
arrested them for "nothing" and accused them of all possible crimes
from hooliganism to insulting official representatives. The protestors
carried signs saying "We will teach you to love the constitution." Last
April NBP leader Eduard Limonov was sentenced to four years'
imprisonment on weapons charges (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 April 2003).
JAC

Writing in "Rossiiskaya gazeta" on 5 June, former "Nezavisimaya gazeta"
editor Vitalii Tretyakov argues that the upcoming December State Duma
elections will be "decisive" for the Yabloko party, which has been
steadily losing ground in national elections since 1993. According to
Tretyakov, Yabloko got 7.9 percent of the vote in 1993, 6.9 percent in
1995, and 5.9 percent in 1999. As a presidential candidate, Yabloko
leader Grigorii Yavlinskii has done worse, winning some 7.3 percent of
the vote in 1996 and only 5.8 percent in 1999. Tretyakov also notes
that the party's anti-communist democratic stance is unquestionable,
but "its liberalism not been proved in theory or in practice....
Yabloko has failed to find its place in Russian politics." In order to
survive, Tretyakov suggests that the party must either "make a secret
alliance with the Kremlin" or with some oligarchs: "If Yavlinskii
succeeds in his maneuvering between the two enemies -- the Kremlin and
the oligarchs -- Yabloko will surely surmount the 5 percent entry
barrier for the State Duma." JAC

RFE/RL's Kazan bureau reported on 4 June that despite news reports that
the federal Interior Ministry has rescinded its earlier prohibition on
Muslim women wearing headscarves in their passport photos, women in
Tatarstan are continuing to encounter difficulties in submitting
passport photos showing them with their heads covered (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 3 June 2003). Almira Adiatullina, who was among the women
petitioning for a change in the Interior Ministry policy, told the
bureau that passport-visa service officials in the republic are still
refusing to accept photographs with headscarves, saying that they still
have not received an official document on the matter. JAC

Andrei Sherbak-Zhukov of the book-review weekly "Knizhnoe obozrenie"
wrote in "Argumenty i fakty," No. 23, that books with patriotic and
anti-American themes are currently dominating book sales in Russia. The
latest nonfiction best-seller list compiled by "Knizhnoe obozrenie" is
headed by "Wrath of Ork," which was written by Maksim Kalashnikov and
Yurii Krupnov and feeds on Cold War animosity between the United States
and the Soviet Union. Maksim Kalashnikov is also the author of one of
Russia's best sellers last year, "Broken Sword of Empire," which
glorifies Soviet militarism. Andrei Parshev's "Why Is America on the
Offensive," which attempts to prove that the United States seeks to
place all of the world's oil under its control, is third on the list.
In seventh place is "Why People Hate America," by Ziauddin Sardar and
Merryl Wyn Davies. VY

Speaking to a press conference in Moscow on 5 June, International
Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) Chairman and CEO Jay
Berman said Russia ranks second in the world in pirate music sales,
Russian news agencies and IFPI's website reported
(http://www.ifpi.org). The pirate music market in Russia grew by 25
percent in 2002 and has nearly doubled over the past four years,
according to IFPI. Last year, sales of pirate recordings reached $311
million, while sales of legitimate recordings were just $257 million.
This places Russia second only to China in pirate sales ($513 million),
followed by Mexico ($157 million). Berman noted that Russia is No. 1 in
the world in the export of pirate recordings, which he said have been
found as far away as Latin America. Some 320 million CDs a year are
produced in Russia, where domestic demand does not exceed 20 million
CDs. Berman said he came to Moscow to discuss the issue with Media
Minister Lesin and Andrei Sumin, the chairman of the board of Russia's
National Federation of the Phonographic Industry. VY

Interfax on 5 June quoted Federal Security Service (FSB) spokesman
Sergei Ignatchenko as saying that Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov
knew in advance that the suicide bombing earlier that day in North
Ossetia was being planned (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 June 2003).
Ignatchenko identified Maskhadov, together with Arab field commanders
Abu al-Walid and Abu Omar as-Seif as responsible for planning and
carrying out all terrorist attacks in the North Caucasus. Maskhadov for
his part has repeatedly stressed that his men have orders not to
perpetrate terrorist attacks on Chechen territory or against Chechen
civilians. Also on 5 June, Russian Prosecutor-General Vladimir Ustinov
met in Moscow with Russian President Putin to brief him on the
investigation into the bombing in North Ossetia, in which 17 people
died, including the female suicide bomber, whose identity has not yet
been established. LF

In an address, posted beforehand on chechenpress.com, to a conference
at RFE/RL's Prague headquarters on 6 June, former Russian Supreme
Soviet Chairman Ruslan Khasbulatov noted that on 10 April 1990, Soviet
President Mikhail Gorbachev signed a law that elevated the status of
the USSR's autonomous republics, making it equal to that of the union
republics. All autonomous formations within the RSFSR, with the
exception of Daghestan, subsequently adopted declarations of
sovereignty that were acknowledged by Russia. Therefore, Khasbulatov
argued, all those formations that had changed their names to eliminate
the term "autonomous" prior to the collapse of the USSR in December
1991 were legally no longer part of Russia and had the right to declare
their independence. The union republics and the Chechen Republic, which
adopted a declaration of sovereignty in November 1990, duly made use of
that right. Khasbulatov said he personally expedited the signing in
March 1992 of the Federation Treaty to preclude the further
disintegration of the Russian Federation. But insofar as Chechnya (and
Tatarstan) declined to sign the Federation Treaty, Chechnya should be
regarded both under Russian constitutional law and international law as
an independent sovereign state, Khasbulatov concluded. LF

After reaching agreement on 4 June not to boycott sessions of the new
parliament elected on 25 May, the opposition parties aligned in the
Artarutiun bloc agreed on 5 June that they will not attend the opening
session of the new parliament, which is scheduled for 12 June,
according to Noyan Tapan and Mediamax as cited by Groong. Artarutiun
campaign manager Stepan Zakarian said the bloc will not propose any
candidates for membership of the parliament's ruling body. LF

Ararat Zurabian, chairman of the board of the former ruling Armenian
Pan-National Movement (HHSh), told a press conference in Yerevan on 5
June that the party does not recognize the validity of the official
results of the 25 May parliamentary election, according to Noyan Tapan
and Mediamax as cited by Groong. A second HHSh board member, Aram
Manukian, accused the authorities of exaggerating voter turnout, noting
that while overall turnout was 52.7 percent, in 50 precincts it was
given as 95 percent and in one precinct more ballots were cast than
there are registered voters. He characterized the new parliament as "a
parliament of oligarchs." According to the official results, the HHSh
polled only 0.63 percent of the vote, less than the minimum 5 percent
required to qualify for parliamentary representation under the
proportional system. LF

[19] ANOTHER ARMENIAN PARTY TO APPEAL ELECTION OUTCOME TO
CONSTITUTIONAL COURT

Leading members of the Democratic Liberal Union of Armenia (HZhAM) told
journalists in Yerevan on 4 June that they will appeal to the
Constitutional Court the official election returns, according to which
the party obtained 4.5 percent of the vote, Noyan Tapan reported. They
said that as a result of "deliberately wrong tabulation" by election
commissions, the number of ballots cast in favor of the party was
understated by at least 28,000, and that checking at 42 precincts
revealed 641 ballots cast for the HZhAM in the piles of ballot papers
cast for other parties. LF

Presidential envoy to the South Russia Federal District Viktor
Kazantsev arrived in Yerevan on 3 June on a three-day visit, Russian
and Armenian news agencies reported. Kazantsev discussed with Prime
Minister Andranik Markarian the possibility of allocating a quota for
Armenian workers seeking seasonal or temporary employment in South
Russia, and the potential for expanding trade between Armenia and his
region, ITAR-TASS reported. Trade between Armenia and South Russia in
2002 amounted to $13 million, according to Armenpress as cited by
Groong, but Kazantsev estimated that it could increase to as much as
$200 million-300 million. Kazantsev and Markarian also agreed on the
emergency purchase by Armenia of 9,000 tons of wheat from southern
Russia to offset a shortage that has resulted in Armenian bread prices
rising by 20 percent over the past week, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau
reported on 5 June. Kazantsev also met on 5 June with President Robert
Kocharian. The previous day Kazantsev, a former Russian army general,
visited the Russian military base at Giumri. LF

Heidar Aliev met on 5 June with Ali ibn Ibrahim an-Nuyami to discuss
trends on the world oil market, Turan reported. Aliev stressed the
importance of keeping world oil prices stable, noting Saudi Arabia's
potential as an OPEC member state to achieve that desired stability.
An-Nuyami extended an invitation to Aliev's son Ilham, who is first
deputy president of Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR, and to
Azerbaijani Fuel and Energy Minister Medjid Kerimov to visit Saudi
Arabia for talks on cooperation in the energy sector. LF

The Islamic Party of Azerbaijan will name its candidate for the 17
October presidential elections shortly, zerkalo.az on 6 June quoted the
party's deputy chairman, Rovshan Akhmedov, as saying. He added that
several moderate Islamist parties and movements whose combined
membership totals tens of thousands are likely to align in a bloc that
could prove attractive to a broader electorate. LF

The trial opened in Baku on 5 June of former city Deputy Mayor Eldaniz
Laidjev and five other persons accused of embezzling money paid to the
municipal authorities by the U.S. Embassy in Baku as compensation for
residents whose homes were demolished to make way for the expansion of
the embassy complex (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 10 April 2003). LF

UN Security Council Chairman Sergei Lavrov on 6 June issued a statement
calling for the immediate and unconditional release of the three UN
members of the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) and their
interpreter abducted the previous day in the village of Gentsvishi in
the upper, Georgian-controlled reaches of the Kodori Gorge, Caucasus
Press reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 June 2003). Kodori Governor
Emzar Kvitsiani said on 6 June that Georgian National Security and
State Border Protection personnel have joined the search for the four
men, together with local home-guard personnel. Kvitsiani predicted the
men, who have made radio contact with UNOMIG headquarters to confirm
they are alive and unharmed, will be released later on 6 June. The
observers were conducting a routine patrol of the gorge together with
members of the Russian peacekeeping force, and their route was known
only to that force, the Georgian government, and UNOMIG headquarters in
Sukhum. LF

Also on 5 June, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Yakovenko
issued a similar statement in Moscow calling for the release of the
UNOMIG personnel, Interfax reported. He noted that the situation in
Kodori has been "dangerous" since the fall of 2001, when Chechen
fighters under the command of field commander Ruslan Gelaev launched an
abortive offensive there. He said Moscow has repeatedly urged the
Georgian leadership to restore order in the region in cooperation with
UNOMIG and the Abkhaz leadership. LF

The leaders of the opposition parties that on 3 June established the
United Resistance Front in Tbilisi on 5 June traveled to Kutaisi, where
they established a regional headquarters, the website of the
independent television station Rustavi-2 reported. Zurab Zhvania
(United Democrats), Davit Gamkrelidze (New Rightists), Mikhail
Saakashvili (National Movement), Mamuka Giorgadze (People's Party), and
other political leaders stressed their commitment to ousting the
present Georgian leadership by peaceful means. LF

Supporters of renegade defrocked priest Father Basil Mkalavishvili have
prevented police in Tbilisi from taking him into pretrial custody for
three months, Caucasus Press and Interfax reported on 4 and 5 June,
respectively. Mkalavishvili has taken refuge in a Tbilisi church. He
faces charges of organized violence against Jehovah's Witnesses in
Georgia over a period of several years (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report,"
18 July 2002). LF

Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbaev told a news conference in
northern Kazakhstan on 5 June that there will be no referendum on the
new Land Code, Khabar.kz and Interfax reported the same day. But the
president was quoted as saying that he will refer the code to the
Constitutional Council for an assessment of the legislation's
conformity with Kazakhstan's constitution before he signs it into law.
Several Kazakh political figures and groups have called for a
referendum on the Land Code (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 and 29 May
2003), even after it was technically adopted by means of a
parliamentary vote of confidence in the government, which had drafted
the legislation (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 May 2003). Controversy over
the new Land Code has focused on the introduction of private ownership
of agricultural land, a step that has been urged by international donor
organizations since Kazakhstan gained its independence. Proponents have
argued that land privatization is a necessary step in economic reform;
opponents of the code as drafted have said that it benefits primarily
the wealthy. Apparently only some Communist and nationalist politicians
are opposed to any private land ownership. Other opponents of the Land
Code appear primarily concerned that land be distributed fairly. BB

[29] KAZAKHSTAN CALLS FOR TRANSREGIONAL APPROACH TO STRUGGLE AGAINST
TERRORISM

Kazakh First Deputy Foreign Minister Kairat Abuseitov has told a
regular session of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) in
Madrid that his country wants transregional bodies to play the dominant
role in coordinating the international struggle against terrorism,
Interfax-Kazakhstan reported on 5 June, quoting a statement issued by
the Kazakh Foreign Ministry. He was quoted as saying that structures
such as the EAPC create a "climate of stability and confidence" in the
entire Eurasian region. According to the statement, Abuseitov also drew
attention to Kazakhstan's readiness to take part in the anti-terrorism
campaign, pointing out his country's support for the activities of the
international antiterrorism coalition in Afghanistan and its assistance
in the postconflict restoration of Iraq. The Foreign Ministry statement
noted that Abuseitov had held talks with NATO Secretary-General Lord
George Robertson and representatives of NATO member states focusing on
expanding the partnership between Kazakhstan and the alliance. BB

The U.S. lease of the air base at Bishkek's Manas Airport has been
extended for three years, Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Askar Aitmatov
announced during his visit to the United States, ITAR-TASS reported on
5 June. The facilities at Manas are used by the international
antiterrorism coalition to support its activities in Afghanistan. The
Russian news agency commented that Aitmatov was unable to give a
specific date on which Western military forces would leave Kyrgyzstan.
At present there are reportedly about 1,500 servicemen from seven
countries stationed at Manas, along with jet fighters from Denmark and
the Netherlands and other types of military planes used for delivery of
humanitarian aid to Afghanistan as well as military actions. The United
States has just leased an additional piece of land from the Kyrgyz
Defense Ministry for administration and personnel housing. BB

Tajik Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov and Kyrgyz Prime Minister Nikolai
Tanaev signed a protocol on 4 June allowing a group of ethnic Kyrgyz
citizens of Tajikistan to continue using a parcel of land in
Kyrgyzstan, Asia-Plus Blitz reported the following day. The parcel,
which is part of Kyrgyzstan's Osh Oblast, was given to Tajikistan by
Soviet authorities in the 1930s to be used for livestock grazing.
Earlier this year, Kyrgyzstan asked for the return of the land (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 14 April 2003), and the Tajik authorities asked that
their citizens be allowed to continue using it. The issue was on the
agenda of the Tajik-Kyrgyz Intergovernmental Cooperation Commission
that met in Dushanbe this week (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 3 June 2003).
According to the Asia-Plus report, protocols on water use and
cooperation between the two countries on development of the road
network and rail transport were also signed. Akipress.org commented on
5 June that the Tajik-Kyrgyz agreement on joint water use, which
includes creation of a bilateral consortium on water and energy, has
given the green light to the establishment of the largest such
organization in Central Asia. BB

An alleged activist of the banned Muslim extremist movement Hizb
ut-Tahrir has been sentenced to 14 years in a strict-regime penal
colony by the Sughd Oblast criminal court in northern Tajikistan,
Interfax reported on 5 June, quoting a court official. The activist,
Saidkamoliddin Nasirov, is reported to be a citizen of Uzbekistan. He
was arrested in Khujand, the administrative center of Sughd Oblast, in
January. According to the report, Nasirov, who had gone to Tajikistan
to avoid arrest by Uzbek law enforcement authorities, had actively
promoted the Hizb ut-Tahrir ideology and had obtained forged Tajik
identity documents through his Hizb ut-Tahrir associates. The court
official that told Interfax about the sentencing of Nasirov also
reported that two other Hizb ut-Tahrir activists -- Anvar Boboev and
Negmat Bobojonov -- were sentenced to five and three years in prison,
respectively, by the Sughd Oblast court on 30 May. Interfax quoted
Tajik law enforcement officials as saying that 23 Hizb ut-Tahrir
activists have been detained in Tajikistan in 2003. BB

The Bundestag on 5 June ratified by a large majority the enlargement
decision made at NATO's Prague summit in November, TASR and Romanian
Radio reported. All parliamentary parties with the exception of two
representatives of the Party of Democratic Socialism -- the successor
party of the communist Socialist Unity Party -- voted in favor of
ratifying the agreement, under which Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia will join the Atlantic
alliance in 2004. MS

The Information Ministry has sacked Uladzimir Tselesh, director of the
Minsk-based printing house Chyrvonaya Zorka, which printed special
issues this week of two independent weeklies that had lent their
mastheads to the suspended newspaper "Belorusskaya delovaya gazeta"
(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 June 2003), RFE/RL's Belarusian Service
reported on 5 June. The ministry also suspended the publication of one
of those weeklies, "Ekho," and prevented "Belorusskaya delovaya gazeta"
from publishing its materials under the masthead of yet another
periodical. "This is an onslaught," "Belorusskaya delovaya gazeta"
Editor in Chief Svyatlana Kalinkina told RFE/RL. "I think everybody now
realizes that the sacking of the director was intended to intimidate
all those printers who could print not only 'Belorusskaya delovaya
gazeta' but any other newspaper." JM

The Chamber of Representatives failed on 5 June to pass a bill that
would have increased the number of salaried aides per deputy from the
current three to five, Belapan reported. The bill was proposed by
Anatol Krasutski, deputy head of the Committee on International Affairs
and CIS Relations, who cited a tripling in the size of constituencies
since 1996. In 2000, both houses of the Belarusian National Assembly
voted to increase the number of aides per deputy from three to eight,
but President Alyaksandr Lukashenka refused to sign that bill. Another
vote to increase the number to six was also vetoed by Lukashenka. JM

The Chamber of Representatives passed amendments to several laws on 5
June to bring them into line with a presidential decree on public
meetings and demonstrations in Belarus, Belapan reported. In
particular, the amendments will allow authorities to ban a political
party, trade union, or other organization if it is found guilty of a
single violation of the law during a rally. The measure may be applied
in circumstances where the organizers' failure to ensure law and order
during a demonstration leads to material damage of at least $68,000, or
"considerable damage" to the rights and legal interests of people or to
the interests of the state and the public. JM

The Ukrainian government issued an $800 million tranche of 10-year,
dollar-denominated bonds on 4 June at a yield of 7.65 percent, Interfax
reported. The "Financial Times" noted on 5 June that a lack of regional
bond issues contributed to favorable terms in comparison with the 10.4
percent yield on Ukraine's seven-year bond issue in 2000. The bonds
marked Ukraine's first international issue since a debt restructuring
three years ago, the paper added. JM

EU Director General for Employment and Social Policy Odile Quintin told
reporters in Tallinn on 5 June that Estonia should adopt EU legislation
on social and labor affairs before becoming a member of the EU, BNS
reported. She said that Estonia has made very little progress in
adopting EU labor law, with only a single directive dealing with
working hours approved. Quintin recommended that Estonia pass the
gender equality law and complete the adoption of the EU
anti-discrimination law before joining in May next year. She also noted
that the unemployment rate in the country is too high, especially for
young people and for Russian-speakers, who are more than twice as
likely to be without a job as ethnic Estonians. SG

U.S. Ambassador to Latvia Brian Carlson told Economy Minister Juris
Lujans in Riga on 4 June that U.S. investors are ready to invest
resources in the joint-stock oil company Ventspils Nafta (VN), BNS
reported. Its export operations have been reduced greatly by the
decision of the Russian state-owned oil exporter Transneft not to send
any more oil to Ventspils by pipeline (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 21
February 2003). The bulk of the company's shares are currently held by
the private company Latvijas Naftas Tranzits (47 percent) and the state
(43.6 percent). Carlson said that the unclear structure of VN's
shareholders makes investors somewhat cautious. He invited Lujans to
visit the United States in the fall to present to U.S. businessmen the
possibilities for investment in Latvia as a future member of the EU. SG

The parliament, by a vote of 85 to zero with four abstentions, adopted
a bill on 5 June aimed at protecting the domestic pork market by
establishing quotas and extra duties, BNS reported. The annual quota
for pork imports that are not subject to an extra duty of 0.257 lats
($0.46) per kilogram was set at 6,200 tons. No quota for live pig
imports was set, but those will be subject to an import duty of 0.205
lats per kilogram. The Estonian Foreign Ministry immediately condemned
the bill, calling it a violation of World Trade Organization policy and
the Baltic states' agricultural free trade agreement. Last year Estonia
exported more than 10,000 tons of pork to Latvia, but its quota for
2003 according to the bill will be only 2,370 tons. Meat packers in
Latvia opposed the bill, arguing that the problem was not legally
imported but contraband pork, the amount of which would likely only
increase. SG

Sergei Mironov began an official one-day visit with a meeting with
parliament Chairman Arturas Paulauskas during which he condemned the
2000 law demanding compensation of $20 billion from Russia for damages
Lithuania suffered while part of the USSR, ELTA reported. Mironov said
that Russian lawmakers should soon ratify the 1999 agreement with
Lithuania on avoiding double taxation and called on Lithuania to join
the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) agreement (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 22 November 2002 and 14 May 2003). When President
Rolandas Paksas raised the issue of LUKoil's plans to extract oil from
sea platforms off the ecologically sensitive Curonian Spit, Mironov
affirmed that all ecological standards were being followed and that
LUKoil should invite Lithuanian experts to visit the site.
Industrialist Confederation Chairman Bronislovas Lubys gave Mironov a
letter to the Russian Duma calling for the successful implementation of
the "2K project" of closer cooperation between the cities of
Kaliningrad and Klaipeda. SG

Vilnius Mayor Gediminas Pavirzis officially resigned from his post on 5
June in anticipation of the Vilnius District Administrative Court
ruling the next day that his election in April was illegal, BNS
reported. Pavirzis' election was immediately protested on the grounds
that three parliamentary deputies participated in violation of a
Constitutional Court ruling in December forbidding simultaneous
membership in the parliament and local councils (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"
10 April 2003). The administrative court suspended the powers of
Pavirzis and Deputy Mayor Juozas Imbrasas on 15 April and the city has
been without an official head for two months. On 30 May the
Constitutional Court ruled that the elections had been improper. SG

Some 29.5 million Poles are eligible to vote in the 7-9 June referendum
on the country's EU accession, PAP reported on 5 June, quoting the
State Election Commission. Poland's amended election law allows
publication of turnout figures after the first day of voting. Official
results will reportedly be released no sooner than the evening of 9
June. President Aleksander Kwasniewski told his compatriots in a
televised address on 5 June that a "yes" vote in the referendum will be
"proof of faithfulness to ourselves, to the Polish road that our nation
has chosen, through the rise of Solidarity and the first free,
democratic elections 14 years ago." A poll conducted by the CBOS
polling center between 29 May and 1 June found that 81 percent of
respondents want to take part in the referendum, including 71 percent
who said they will definitely vote. Seventy-six percent of respondents
who said they want to vote support Poland's integration into the EU. JM

The National Radio and Television Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) on 5
June elected 16 members of the supervisory boards of Polish Television
and Polish Radio, local media reported. The treasury minister is to
designate the two remaining members of the boards. According to Polish
Television, all the KRRiT members, whether associated with the left or
the right wing, were pleased with the election results. "We
acknowledged that regarding public television, it is necessary to give
new people and circles an opportunity," KRRiT Chairwoman Danuta Waniek
said. "In my view, there has been a breakthrough. There has been a
party depoliticization in public television," KRRiT member Jaroslaw
Sellin commented. Polish Radio and Polish Television have often been
criticized by right-wing politicians for favoring the left-wing
government in their news policies. JM

The European commissioner in charge of enlargement, Guenter Verheugen,
met in Prague with Czech President Vaclav Klaus to discuss the
country's 13-14 June referendum on EU accession, CTK reported. Klaus is
a self-styled "Euro-realist" and has been cautious in his backing of EU
membership. According to presidential spokesman Tomas Klvana, the men
also discussed envisaged institutional changes in the EU stemming from
the European Convention, as well as the state of Czech economy and
finances. Before meeting with Klaus, Verheugen visited the West
Bohemian city of Plzen, where he told residents that the Czech Republic
is practically part of the EU already and that fears of a more
competitive business environment in the organization are groundless,
since the Czech economy is fully competitive. Verheugen visited the
Plzensky Prazdroj brewery, telling customers that their local pilsner
beer is becoming an EU treasure. MS

Information Technology Minister Vladimir Mlynar (Freedom
Union-Democratic Union) resigned his seat in the Chamber of Deputies on
6 June, fulfilling a pledge to devote all his professional attention to
his ministerial duties, CTK reported. Mlynar will be replaced by Robert
Vokac, who is mayor of the North Bohemian town of Hlinsko. The one-seat
majority of the center-left ruling coalition is shaky, and ministers'
absences from parliamentary debate are a constant threat to the
coalition's ability to pass legislation. In related news, recently
departed Defense Minister Jaroslav Tvrdik reconfirmed on 6 June his
intention to resign his seat in the lower house; his seat will go to a
Social Democratic Party colleague. MS

Lubomir Volenik, for a decade the president of the Supreme Audit Office
(NKU), died of an apparent heart attack on 5 June while on a business
trip to Denmark, CTK reported. He was 53. Volenik was a founding member
of the Civic Democratic Party and had headed the NKU with only a brief
interruption since 1993. He was widely credited with transforming that
fledgling institution into an effective watchdog of the public purse.
MS

The Slovak cabinet on 5 June approved the deployment of 85 army
engineers to Iraq to help in mine-clearing operations, mainly in the
Polish-controlled sector, TASR and international news agencies
reported. Defense Minister Ivan Simko told journalists that the
estimated costs for the unit's deployment in 2003 are around 300
million crowns ($8.5 million), adding that its mandate will be
open-ended, since it is difficult to estimate how long its operations
might take. MS

Slovak cabinet ministers on 5 June approved the general framework of a
draft 2004 budget, TASR reported. The budget envisages revenues of 252
billion crowns ($6.1 billion) and expenditures of 316 billion crowns.
The projected 64 billion-crown deficit represents 3.9 percent of the
GDP forecast. The budget is based on expectations that Slovakia will be
able to draw about 11.3 billion crowns from EU funds. Also on 5 June,
the cabinet approved introducing a unified individual- and
corporate-tax rate of 19 percent and a similarly unified value-added
tax applying to all purchases, TASR reported. Current VAT rates are 14
and 23 percent. The plan calls for the elimination of the country's
taxes on inheritance, the transfer of property, and gifts from 1
January 2004. Parliamentary approval is required on all of those
measures. MS

The Slovak Supreme Audit Office submitted a report to the government on
5 June alleging that the State Privatization Fund (FNM) was beset by
inefficiency and corruption in 1999-2001, TASR reported. NKU Chairman
Jozef Stahl told the news agency that suspicions have been reported to
police. According to the NKU, the FNM was badly mismanaged under Stefan
Gavornik (1994-98) and Ludovit Kanik (1998-99), as well as under
current FNM Chairman Jozef Koja. MS

[51] FORMER SLOVAK INTELLIGENCE CHIEF RELEASED FROM PRETRIAL DETENTION

Former Slovak Intelligence Service (SIS) Director Ivan Lexa was
released from pretrial detention on 5 June in compliance with the
recent decision of a Bratislava court, TASR reported (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 3 June 2003). Lexa, who faces charges that include fraud,
abuse of office, and commissioning a contract killing, was cheered by
supporters on leaving jail. He told journalists he has no intention of
fleeing Slovakia and declined to comment on his case. Lexa spent two
years evading Slovak prosecution before being extradited last year from
South Africa. MS

Vilmos Szabo, Hungarian co-chairman of a Slovak-Hungarian
intergovernmental commission, said in Bratislava on 5 June that the
commission is not the proper forum for evaluating the controversial
Hungarian Status Law, TASR reported. At a session in the Slovak capital
the same day, the commission reviewed 26 recommendations on possible
support for Slovak and Hungarian minorities and will submit those
conclusions to the respective governments. Szabo told journalists that
the Hungarian government's recommendations for amending the Status Law
are in line with European standards and take into account the comments
by European institutions on the law, which was passed by the Hungarian
parliament in 2001. MS

One day after announcing a deal whereby the central bank devalued the
national currency in exchange for budget cuts (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5
June 2003), Hungarian officials signaled their concern on 5 June that
the forint might be too weak, "Nepszabadsag" reported. Finance Minister
Csaba Laszlo and National Bank Governor Zsigmond Jarai each told
reporters that the government has a "magic" exchange rate in mind of
250 forints to the euro. The currency deviated from that target by a
wide margin on 5 June, when the forint plunged as low as 272 to the
euro. Laszlo said the forint should stabilize at around 250-260 to the
euro within the next few days. Market analysts speculated that the
central bank had quietly intervened on 5 June to halt the forint's
slide. The same day, the Finance Ministry reduced its prognosis for
economic growth in 2003 to 3.5 percent, instead of the 4-4.5 percent
predicted earlier, "Nepszabadsag" reported. Analysts warned that
raising interest rates to prop up the forint would likely further slow
the sluggish Hungarian economy. MSZ

Hungarian Education Minister Balint Magyar announced on 5 June that he
has accepted the resignation of the ministry's undersecretary for
vocational training, Lajos Sari, "Magyar Hirlap" reported. Sari's
resignation follows a 500 million-forint ($2.2 million)
public-procurement tender in April for the National Vocational Training
Institute that was won by Idea Lab, despite that firm's lack of
references. Idea Lab is owned by businessman Janos Nemeth, who
allegedly has close ties to Sari, according to the Internet news portal
Index. An internal probe at the ministry revealed that while Sari was
not involved in the tender, his behavior did not meet ethical
standards, according to "Magyar Hirlap." Sulinet Program Office head
Peter Racsko also resigned on 5 June, saying the opposition FIDESZ
party's attacks on him have tarnished that Internet-in-schools project,
"Magyar Hirlap" reported. FIDESZ recently charged that Minister
Magyar's staffers spent a weekend at a Lake Balaton luxury hotel as
guests of Elender, Sulinet's main contractor (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28
May and 2 June 2003). Earlier this week, Magyar accepted IT
Commissioner Peter Koltai's resignation and launched disciplinary
proceedings against several ministry staffers. MSZ

The Czech Republic and Hungary would like to continue cooperation
within the Visegrad Four group after their entry to the European Union,
visiting Czech Premier Vladimir Spidla and his Hungarian counterpart
Peter Medgyessy agreed at a meeting in Budapest on 5 June, according to
the MTI and CTK news agencies. Medgyessy told reporters after the
meeting that there is a need for a "flexible" Visegrad group that is
capable of adapting itself to the conditions of EU membership,
Hungarian television reported. Spidla stressed that Visegrad
cooperation has "never been a burden." Medgyessy and Spidla also
discussed opportunities for cooperation in the reconstruction of Iraq
along with Czech-Hungarian relations, which they both described as
problem-free and good. The Visegrad Four comprises the Czech Republic,
Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. MSZ

Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs said on 5 June that solving problems
inherited from the previous FIDESZ-led administration, improving
Hungary's international image, and asserting the country's national
interests have been the main Hungarian foreign-policy priorities in the
first year of the Socialist-Free Democrat government, the MTI news
agency reported. Kovacs said that if any party is truly sensitive to
the fate of ethnic Hungarians abroad, then it should support the
amendment of the controversial Status Law. He said negotiations on EU
accession were concluded more successfully than was expected when his
coalition replaced Viktor Orban's FIDESZ government. Meanwhile,
opposition FIDESZ deputy Zsolt Nemeth told reporters in the Romanian
city of Cluj that the present Hungarian government has no clear concept
for improving Hungarian-Romanian relations. He said it instead behaves
as if it were "ashamed" of the existence of the Hungarian ethnic
minority in Romania, Mediafax reported on 5 June. MSZ

Pope John Paul II arrived in Krk on 5 June on his third trip to Croatia
and the 100th foreign journey of his 25-year-old papacy, international
and Croatian media reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 June 2003). He
told about 3,000 well-wishers at the airport: "May those who exercise
civil and religious authority never tire of trying to heal the wounds
caused by a cruel war and of rectifying the consequences of a
totalitarian system that for all too long attempted to impose an
ideology opposed to man and his dignity." The pope endorsed Croatia's
bid to join the EU, adding that "the rich tradition of Croatia will
surely contribute to strengthening the union as an administrative and
territorial unit, and also as a cultural and spiritual reality." In his
welcoming speech, President Stipe Mesic told the pontiff: "What you
heralded [previously] has in recent years been coming to pass, although
not always without difficulties." PM

From Krk the pope went on to Rijeka on 5 June for a welcome by
thousands of well-wishers, dpa and Hina reported. The following day, he
went to Dubrovnik, where about 60,000 pilgrims from Croatia, Bosnia,
Argentina, and Peru attended a ceremony for the beatification of Marija
Petkovic, who founded the Daughters of Mercy order in the 1920s. She
was born in Croatia but did much of her work in Latin America. Calls
for her beatification began when the crew of a sunken Peruvian
submarine was rescued in 1988. The pope will remain in Croatia until 9
June on a trip that centers on Dalmatia and Slavonia (see item below).
PM

The Croatian branch of the NGO Transparency International (TI) released
a study in Zagreb on 5 June showing that 86 percent of those
interviewed consider corruption to be widespread in Croatia, VOA's
Croatian Service reported. Josip Kregar, who is a member of TI's
Croatian board, said that what is new in the survey is the rise in the
percentage of those who consider the present government more corrupt
than that of late President Franjo Tudjman, whose Croatian Democratic
Community (HDZ) lost power in 2000. Some 30 percent of respondents said
the current government is more corrupt, 20 percent gave pride of place
to the Tudjman regime, and 46 percent said there is no difference
between the two. About 70 percent of the respondents consider the
health system, the judiciary, and local government corrupt.
Approximately 58 percent have the same opinion of the police, while 45
percent called parliamentary deputies corrupt. President Mesic is
viewed as the least corrupt leading politician, followed by Prime
Minister Ivica Racan. Individual cabinet members fared less well in the
survey. PM

After meeting with outgoing UN civilian administration (UNMIK) head
Michael Steiner and local political leaders in Prishtina on 5 June,
Javier Solana, who is the EU's security and foreign policy chief, said
unspecified Kosovar elected officials will accompany Steiner to the 21
June EU summit in Thessaloniki, regional and international media
reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 June 2003). Solana declined to
elaborate but stressed that the peoples in the Balkans need to draw
closer to the EU and to each other. In an interview with Deutsche
Welle's Albanian Service, Steiner was vague as to when the question of
Kosova's status might be resolved, saying only that the issue cannot be
shelved indefinitely. Some Kosovar Albanians suspect that the EU wants
to pressure them into some form of association with Serbia and
Montenegro, which all Kosovar parties reject. Kosova's more than 90
percent ethnic Albanian majority solidly supports independence (see
"RFE/RL Balkan Report," 23 August 2002, and 31 January and 2 May 2003).
PM

During his official visit to Skopje on 5 June, Solana met with
President Boris Trajkovski and Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski to
discuss the future of the EU's military mission in Macedonia, MIA news
agency reported. Elsewhere, both Trajkovski and Crvenkovski discussed
the matter with visiting Greek Defense Minister Yannos Papantoniou. The
Macedonian government has repeatedly signaled that it does not wish to
extend the mandate for the mission once it runs out in September (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 31 March, 17 April, and 31 May 2003). On 6 June in
Belgrade, Solana discussed regional integration with Serbia and
Montenegro's President Svetozar Marovic, the private Beta news agency
reported. Following talks with several other Belgrade political
leaders, Solana is scheduled to leave for Podgorica later in the day.
UB/PM

[62] COUNCIL OF EUROPE CALLS ON SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO TO TELL THE U.S.
'NO'...

Peter Schieder, who heads the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe, told the Belgrade daily "Blic" of 6 June that Serbia and
Montenegro "must say 'no'" to the United States in response to the
latter's request for a bilateral extradition-immunity agreement
prohibiting the handover of each other's citizens to the International
Criminal Court (ICC) (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 27, 29, and 30 May, and 4
June 2003). Schieder stressed that such an agreement would put some
"people outside the law." He added that Serbia and Montenegro is not
economically dependent on the United States and is therefore in a
position to resist U.S. pressure. Schieder argued that Serbia and
Montenegro intend to join the EU at some point and must therefore
adhere to "European standards." He denied that Brussels would impose
sanctions on Belgrade if it agrees to the U.S. request, adding,
however, that the EU "expects a different answer" from those who intend
to become "part of the great European family." PM

Serbia and Montenegro's President Marovic told "Politika" of 6 June
that the government will not decide how to reply to the U.S. request
until after the 21 June EU Thessaloniki summit. He added that "several
variations" of a reply are under consideration, but he did not
elaborate. Marovic stressed that the tensions between Brussels and
Washington cause unnecessary difficulties for small countries, adding
that the United States and EU would do well to resolve their
differences. Referring to his recent talks in the Vatican with the
pope, Marovic said the pontiff will visit Serbia and Montenegro "very
soon" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 June 2003). The president added that he
expects that the upcoming Italian EU Presidency will help stabilize the
Balkans, "not just in words, but economically." PM

[64] SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO PREPARES TO EXTRADITE INDICTED WAR CRIMINAL

Serbia and Montenegro's Minister for Human and Minority Rights Rasim
Ljajic signed documents in Belgrade on 5 June authorizing the
extradition to the Hague-based war crimes tribunal of Jovica Stanisic,
a former state security chief, RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian
Languages Service reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 May and 3 June
2003). Ljajic said the Interior Ministry will set the date for
Stanisic's extradition. Ljajic added that the government will offer
guarantees to the tribunal that Stanisic will return to The Hague for
his trial if the tribunal allows him to spend the time before the trial
in Serbia. The government offers such guarantees on behalf of indicted
war criminals who turned themselves in (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 June
2003). PM

Chief of Staff General Mihail Popescu said on 5 June that Romania will
send some 650 troops to Iraq as of 1 July, AFP reported. The soldiers
will be among stabilization forces in the zones under British and
Polish commands. Popescu said the bulk of the troops, including 450
soldiers and 100 military police, will be deployed to southern Iraq,
under British command, while the rest will be army engineers supporting
Polish units in central and southern Iraq. Parliament must still
approve the deployment, although President Ion Iliescu last week urged
lawmakers to do so (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29 May 2003). Popescu
stressed that the 650 soldiers are not to be dispatched in addition to
the 678-strong contingent requested by Iliescu, but are part of the
same force and will be deployed in light of consultations among
coalition members in Warsaw on 2 June, according to Romanian Radio. MS

The United States "may be a very young country, but it is the oldest
functioning democracy in the world," U.S. Ambassador to Romania Michael
Guest said on 5 June, according to Mediafax. Guest was speaking at the
National Forum for Durable Development in Ploiesti, in the presence of
President Iliescu. He was thus countering Iliescu's remarks earlier
this week in Constanta in which the president said Western countries
have an unjustified "paternalistic" attitude toward the East, and that
the United States is in no position to judge what "old and new Europe"
is due to its "short, barely 200-year-old history" (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 3 June 2003). Guest also said in Ploiesti that although his
country's history is short, "debates by citizens on the role
governments should play in individual lives had been ongoing in taverns
and saloons even before the country's birth." The ambassador urged
Romanian local-government representatives "not to wait until Bucharest
solves their problems" but to "grab the initiative" for raising living
standards in their localities and attract foreign investment, because
"this is why they were elected in the first place." Iliescu responded
that the media "twisted the meaning" of his words in Constanta. MS

[67] ROMANIAN PREMIER SAYS HIS PARTY MUST 'REASSERT' ITS LEFTIST
CREDENTIALS

Prime Minister Adrian Nastase said on 5 June that his ruling Social
Democratic Party (PSD) must "reassert its leftist, social-democratic
ideology," RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. Addressing a forum of
PSD ecologists, Nastase said the reform program his government was
forced to implement has pushed it too far toward a "center-right"
position on the ideological spectrum. He said measures undertaken by
his cabinet, including property restitution, are actually the domain of
right-wing parties. He also said the PSD must add an ecological
dimension to its ideological preoccupations. MS

In an open letter addressed to President Iliescu, National Liberal
Party (PNL) Chairman Theodor Stolojan said on 5 June that the PNL will
consider abandoning a pact signed in February by parliamentary parties
on joint actions to promote Romania's EU membership, RFE/RL's Bucharest
bureau reported. Stolojan said the PNL has concluded that the pact was
little more than a "political gimmick" and the PSD is not abiding by
its pledge to consult with other political forces and civil societies
on ways to promote EU membership. He said the EU Integration Ministry
has never consulted PNL experts on the ongoing negotiations with the
EU, and the PNL is not being updated on the outcome of negotiations.
Stolojan wrote that if the situation does not radically change within
the next two months, the PNL will leave the pact and inform local
public opinion and international bodies of the reasons for its
decision. Government spokeswoman Despina Neagoe rejected Stolojan's
claims and said all the stipulations included in the accord are being
implemented. MS

In a joint communique released on 5 June, Popular Action, which is led
by former President Emil Constantinescu, and the Christian Popular
Party (PPC) led by Vasile Lupu announced they will merge into a single
formation in the coming months. An agreement on the merger is to be
signed by the two parties' leaderships in July, and a joint congress is
to be held in September. Popular Action and the PPC appealed to the
National Peasant Party Christian Democratic and the Christian
Democratic Union to join them in their effort to "reconstruct a Popular
Movement in Romania." MS

Visiting Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Trubnikov
said in Tiraspol on 4 June that Russia intends to "play the dominant
role in the operation of military guarantees in Transdniester" and that
it will defend that role, Flux and Infotag reported. Trubnikov was
reacting to a recent draft on the settlement of the conflict elaborated
by the European Union's Research Institute for Security (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 3 June 2003). That proposal envisages participation by
Romania and the EU in resolving the conflict and a substantial
reduction in the number of Russian troops in Transdniester, who will be
augmented by peacekeepers from EU countries once a settlement has been
reached. In response to a question by the official Transdniester
Olivia-press news agency, Trubnikov said Moscow "is not, for now,
examining the plan" proposed by the EU institute "because neither
Chisinau nor Tiraspol approved it." MS

Trubnikov met in Tiraspol on 4 June with separatist leader Igor Smirnov
to discuss the settlement of the conflict with Chisinau and the
withdrawal of Russian troops from the region, Infotag reported. Smirnov
told the Russian diplomat that negotiations are deadlocked and the
blame rests with the Moldovan side. "Chisinau believes the joint
constitutional commission is supposed to draft a new constitution for
[federal] Moldova...while, in fact, the protocol signed by Tiraspol
and...the international mediators clearly speaks about building a
contractual federation." He also accused the Moldovan side of
continuing its attempts to bring about a deterioration in living
standards in Transdniester, adding, "In such conditions, it is very
difficult to negotiate." On 5 June, Trubnikov met in Chisinau with
Moldovan Reintegration Minister Vasilii Sova and with Deputy Foreign
Minister Ion Capatana. Capatana told Trubnikov that Tiraspol is
procrastinating on allowing the constitutional commission to start its
work, Flux reported. MS

A new round of negotiations between the two opposing sides in the
Transdniester conflict began on 5 June in Chisinau, Flux reported.
Apart from the representatives of Chisinau and Tiraspol, the round is
also attended by Adriaan Iacobovitz, who is a special representative to
Moldova for the OSCE's rotating chairman-in-office, and by William
Hill, chief of the OSCE mission to Moldova. The talks are to continue
on 6 June. MS

Visiting Moldovan Premier Vasile Tarlev and his Turkish counterpart
Tayyip Erdogan signed six accords on economic and cultural cooperation
in Ankara on 5 June, Flux reported. The signings came on the last day
of Tarlev's official three-day visit to Turkey. MS

Leading members of the ruling National Movement Simeon II (NDSV)
announced on 5 June that their party will not support the re-election
of National Bank Governor Svetoslav Gavriyski, saying the NDSV will
nominate a candidate of its own, bnn reported. The Movement for Rights
and Freedoms (DPS), one of the NDSV's partners in the coalition
government, said support for any governor should be broader than just
the DPS and the NDSV. The NDSV's other coalition partners -- the
National Movement for Renewal Oborishte and the Party of Bulgarian
Women -- as well as the conservative opposition United Democratic
Forces (ODS), have vowed their support for Gavriyski, who is widely
regarded as a nonpartisan technocrat. The opposition Socialist Party
has not yet decided whom to support. UB

The Bulgarian Constitutional Court ruled on 5 June that legislators may
not vote on behalf of absent colleagues by using their electronic
voting cards, "Dnevnik" reported. The court did not rule on President
Georgi Parvanov's question as to the validity of laws that were adopted
with such votes. Some coalition lawmakers question whether the court
ruling will result in a change of practice, citing the lack of clear
legal regulations for the voting procedure. Some opposition
legislators, for their part, argue that every law adopted with votes
from absent lawmakers may now be challenged before the Constitutional
Court (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 March 2003). UB

Moody's international rating agency upgraded Bulgaria's rating on
foreign-denominated bonds from B1 to Ba2 and for hard-currency bank
deposits from B2 to Ba3, bnn reported on 5 June. It also raised the
government's ratings on and domestic- and hard-currency bonds to Ba2.
Its outlook on Bulgaria's ratings is stable, Moody's said. UB

Shaykh Ali al-Sa'dun, the chief shaykh of the Al-Sa'dun tribes, was
shot and killed in Al-Basrah on 5 June, Al-Jazeera Television reported
the same day. Al-Sa'dun's car came under attack by four masked
assailants as he and two family members were being driven to their
home, the broadcaster reported. Many members of the Sa'dun tribe
reportedly have strong ties to the Iraqi Ba'ath Party and held
positions in the government of deposed President Saddam Hussein.
Al-Jazeera reported that the slaying appears to be just one of a number
of attacks against Ba'ath Party members in Al-Basrah in recent days.
Unknown assailants attacked the home of a woman associated with the
party on 3 June, setting it ablaze. Prior to that incident, a former
army colonel who worked in the Iraqi security apparatus was killed on
the road connecting Umm Qasr and Al-Basrah. KR

Attacks against U.S. soldiers in Iraq continued on 5 and 6 June,
according to international media reports. U.S. troops were attacked in
the central Iraqi town of Khaldiya, located some 70 kilometers west of
Baghdad, on 6 June when unidentified assailants fired small arms and
rocket-propelled grenades at troops patrolling an air base west of
Baghdad, AP reported, citing U.S. military sources. An M1A1 Abrams tank
and a military-police Humvee came under attack in the incident. U.S.
troops reportedly returned fire, but there were no reports of
casualties on either side, AP reported. Meanwhile, U.S. Central Command
(CENTCOM) reported that two soldiers were wounded when two assailants
fired weapons at them as they guarded a bank in central Baghdad on 5
May, according to a press release on the CENTCOM website
(http://www.centcom.mil). One assailant was shot and killed, while the
other escaped. Elsewhere, a U.S. soldier was shot and killed on 5 June
and five others were wounded when they came under attack in the Iraqi
city of Al-Fallujah (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 June 2003). KR

The U.S.-led administration in Iraq is reportedly cracking down on
mosques, enforcing a new ban on incitement to violence, news.com.au
reported on 6 June. The new ban prohibits incitement to "armed
insurrection," including attacks on coalition forces, and "racial and
religious violence," the website reported, citing an unnamed spokesman
from the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). "We respect religious
sites,... but if we hear that there are groups who are using and
abusing religious establishments such as mosques to incite religious or
ethnic violence, we would consider taking action," the source said.
Coalition forces have reportedly detained a number of Iraqi clerics in
recent days. However, it is unclear whether those detentions are
related to charges of incitement. KR

A U.S. soldier reportedly wounded four Iraqis in Baghdad on 5 June when
he accidentally fired on them with his machine gun, CENTCOM reported in
a 5 June press release. The soldier "unintentionally discharged several
rounds (exact count unknown) from his M-240 medium machine gun while
picking the weapon up" CENTCOM stated. All four victims were shot in
the legs, and one received a grazing wound to the ear, the press
release noted. Their injuries were not life threatening. The incident
is under investigation by a unit commander. KR

Hans Blix, executive chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification, and
Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) presented UNMOVIC's 13th quarterly
report -- the last of his tenure, and possibly that of UNMOVIC -- to
the UN Security Council on 5 June, international media reported. Blix
warned council members against concluding that Iraq possessed weapons
of mass destruction (WMD) simply because they were unaccounted for. He
also cautioned against concluding that Iraq's WMD program had ended in
cases where the Iraq regime did not account for those weapons. Blix
said UN inspections in Iraq from November until March yielded no
evidence of the continuation or resumption of WMD programs or
significant quantities of proscribed biological or chemical agents, the
UN News Center reported on 5 May (http://www.un.org/news). "This does
not necessarily mean that such items could not exist," Blix cautioned.
"They might -- there remain long lists of items unaccounted for -- but
it is not justified to jump to the conclusion that something exists
just because it is unaccounted for." KR

Blix told the UN Security Council on 5 June that information given to
UNMOVIC inspectors by the deposed Iraqi regime regarding mobile
laboratories differs from published descriptions of mobile laboratories
recently discovered by the United States. "At UNMOVIC we cannot, of
course, make a proper evaluation of the depicted vehicles on the basis
of published material alone," Blix said. The UNMOVIC chief, who retires
at the end of June, also called on the council to leave UNMOVIC in
existence. The United States has refused to allow the return of UNMOVIC
inspectors to Iraq and has instead formed its own inspection team. "The
core expertise and experience available within UNMOVIC remain a
valuable asset, which the Security Council could use where the services
of an independent body would be required for verification or
monitoring," Blix said. "This might be of particular value in the field
of biological weapons and missiles for which there exists no
international verification organization." KR

Ali Hassan al-Majid, deposed President Hussein's cousin, might still be
alive, according to U.S. officials, Reuters reported on 5 June.
Al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali" for his role in chemical attacks
against Iraqi Kurds in the late 1980s, was thought to have been killed
in a coalition bombing of his home in Al-Basrah on 5 April. Both
CENTCOM and the U.S. Pentagon now consider his status uncertain,
according to Reuters. CENTCOM spokesman Major Brad Lowell told
reporters that al-Majid is still considered to be alive. "There is no
disposition next to his name" on CENTCOM's list of the 55 most-wanted
Iraqis, where al-Majid is listed fifth, Lowell said. "Therefore, he's
at large." Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told
reporters on Capitol Hill that U.S. forces "attacked locations where
they believed him to be. There was some speculation afterward that they
thought that he had been killed. Now there's some speculation that he
may be alive," Rumsfeld said. KR

Citing an unidentified spokesman from the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry
Division, the "Financial Times" reported on 6 June that 20 members of
the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq's (SCIRI)
military wing, the Badr Brigade, were detained on 21 May. The
individuals were linked to "planning, supporting, financing, and
executing at least one RPG [rocket-propelled grenade] attack on U.S.
forces, and are suspected in several others." SCIRI spokesman Hamid
al-Bayati, however, said the accusations are "completely false" and
added that he has not received any information from the U.S. Army about
the case. BS

SCIRI representative al-Bayati said in a 2 June interview with
Al-Jazeera television that the seven-party leadership committee of
Iraqi political groups intends to proceed with its plan to form an
Iraqi administration, "regardless of what the United States decides."
He said the leadership committee met that day with U.S. administrator
L. Paul Bremer and British envoy John Sawers, and Bremer opposed
convening an Iraqi national conference because it would be too
difficult. Bayati also described changes in the SCIRI, saying party
Chairman Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim has announced that the Badr
Brigade will be transformed into the Badr Institution for Building and
Reconstruction. "We do not need armed struggle after the fall of this
regime," Bayati said. BS

An anonymous "Iranian source very close to the [Islamic] Revolution
Guards [Corps] command" claims that Al-Qaeda spokesman Suleiman
Abu-Ghayth recently left Iran through the area where the borders of
Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan meet, London-based Iranian journalist
Alireza Nurizadeh wrote in the 5 June "Al-Sharq al-Awsat." The decision
to expel Abu-Ghayth and other terrorists who are being sheltered by the
IRGC in Tehran, Qom, and elsewhere was made at a Supreme National
Security Council meeting last week. President Mohammad Khatami
reportedly objected to the adverse impact on Tehran's relations with
Riyadh, Cairo, Manama, and Kuwait City, and he sought to extradite the
terrorists to their countries of origin. He was forced to accept a
compromise, however, to just expel them from Iran. This report, if
true, corroborates frequent U.S. statements about Iranian assistance to
Al-Qaeda personnel. BS

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Yakovenko said on 5 June
that even though Russia is "actively pushing" for Iran to sign the
Additional Protocol of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which would open
its nuclear facilities to unscheduled International Atomic Energy
Agency inspections, Iran's failure to do so would not hinder Russian
completion of the Bushehr nuclear-power plant, AP reported (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 4 and 5 June 2003). Yakovenko added that Russia's shipment
of nuclear fuel to Bushehr will also proceed as planned, although
Moscow is still insisting that Iran sign an agreement to ship the spent
nuclear fuel back to Russia. Iran's Ambassador to Russia Gholamreza
Shafei said the same day that the agreement on spent fuel has been
drafted and Tehran is ready to sign, Reuters reported. However, an
unidentified Russian Atomic Energy Ministry official said on 5 June
that fuel will only be delivered six months before the power-generating
unit is put into operation, which he said will not be until 2005,
Interfax reported. Russia is now blaming the delayed startup on the
need to replace outdated equipment installed by the project's previous
construction company, Siemens of Germany, according to Interfax. SF

Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, who is one of Iran's most
outspoken hard-line clerics, said in a pre-sermon speech at the Tehran
Friday prayers on 6 June that "the enemy has dispatched hundreds of
spies to our country in order to bribe a number of Iranian officials,"
IRNA reported. These alleged spies have $500 million that they will
distribute among Iranian officials, he claimed, citing a Turkmenistan
news agency. Mesbah-Yazdi added that some officials already have been
bribed. He returned to one of his favorite themes -- insiders versus
outsiders -- and said that anybody who has friendly relations with the
enemy is an outsider (see "RFE/RL Iran Report," 30 August 1999). BS

Following fierce fighting near Spin Boldak in Kandahar Province on 4
June (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 June 2003) in which up to 40 suspected
loyalists to the ousted Taliban regime were killed, a border row
between Afghanistan and Pakistan erupted on 5 June, the BBC reported
the next day. The disagreement began when Afghan authorities sent 20
bodies to the Pakistani side of the border, claiming that the dead
rebels were not Afghans. Pakistan refused to accept the bodies. A
Pakistani border official said that his country "has nothing to do with
affairs across the border." After a protest by Pakistan, Afghan
officials from Spin Boldak reclaimed 14 bodies later on 5 June, "Dawn"
reported the next day. A Pakistani official said that none of the
bodies were Pakistani "and nobody identified them as Pakistani." Afghan
authorities have accused the Pakistani intelligence service of helping
former Taliban fighters re-enter Afghanistan, a charge that Pakistani
officials have denied. AT

Rebel Afghan tribal leader Pacha Khan Zadran said on 4 June that the
appointment of his ally Gholam Gailani as district governor of Sayyed
Karam in Paktiya Province does not resolve his dispute with the Afghan
Transitional Administration of Hamid Karzai, the Pakistan-based Afghan
Islamic Press (AIP) reported on 5 June. Zadran said that Karzai had
promised him control over the provinces of Khost, Paktiya, and Paktika.
Despite Zadran's posture, the appointment of Gailani is seen, according
to the AIP, as an attempt by Asadollah Wafa, the new governor of
Paktiya, to reconcile the differences between Zadran and the
Transitional Administration. Zadran was an ally of Karzai and the
United States, as well as a signatory to the 2001 Bonn agreement, but
later took up arms against the central administration. In March (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 14 March 2003), Zadran's forces directly engaged
U.S. forces, but there now seems to be a truce between the two sides.
AT

A remote-controlled explosive device was detonated as a U.S. military
vehicle passed along the Khost-Gardayz road on 4 June, injuring a
shopkeeper, the AIP reported. According to the report, the incident
marked the first instance in the region that a remote-controlled
explosive has been used to carry out an attack. On 27 May, a
remote-controlled bomb damaged a U.S. military vehicle in Khost
Province, near the Afghan-Pakistani border (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29
May 2003). The use of remote-controlled devices highlights the
difficulty that terrorist groups and opposition Afghan forces face in
confronting U.S.-led coalition forces, but it also suggests that
hostile forces are turning to increasingly sophisticated weaponry. AT

A large explosion destroyed a newly constructed building in Logar
Province on 4 June, the Bakhtar information agency reported on 5 June.
The explosion did not cause any casualties and is believed to have been
the result of a personal dispute. A number of anti-tank mines were used
to destroy the building. The case illustrates the ready availability of
weapons in Afghanistan and the lack of control by either local Afghan
authorities or international forces in the country over their sale and
transfer. AT

Police in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif raided several
houses on 3 June and arrested 25 women, accusing them of "moral
corruption," Hindukosh news agency reported on 5 June. The report added
that the police beat and punched the women during the raid. Mazar-e
Sharif security chief Abdul Majid said that police acted on their own
without informing the responsible authorities. It is not clear to whom
police are expected to report before carrying out such raids. AT

A new Swiss-based airline, Swiss Skies, will launch a specialized
service between Washington Dulles Airport and Kabul, with a stopover in
Geneva, on 14 July, Air Transport Intelligence news reported on 4 June.
The twice-weekly service, which will use an MD-11 aircraft formerly
owned by Delta Air Lines, is targeting passengers from the U.S.
government, the UN, and other international agencies operating in
Afghanistan. AT

To judge by the conduct of a recent local election in Sumy in eastern
Ukraine, the authorities have refined and improved the tactics first
used to influence the outcome of last year's parliamentary elections,
according to both Ukrainian opposition politicians and media
commentators. During recent visits to Canada and Berlin, Ukrainian
opposition leaders warned that if such tactics are employed during the
2004 presidential ballot, the results will not be fair. Those fears are
shared by Ukraine's voters, 55 percent of whom do not believe the 2004
elections will be free and fair, according to a recent poll.

The OSCE's Warsaw-based Office of Democratic Institutions and Human
Rights (ODIHR), which will shortly embark on preparations for
monitoring the presidential ballot, has also been briefed on the
authorities' interference during the local elections.

The 1994 and 1998 parliamentary elections were considered relatively
free and fair, according to the OSCE. Fraud and falsification were more
widespread during the 1999 presidential and 2002 parliamentary
elections, reflecting the consolidation of authoritarian executive and
oligarchic power.

The first time the Ukrainian authorities resorted to the large-scale
de-registering of candidates was during the March 2002 parliamentary
elections and elections to the Crimean Supreme Soviet. The OSCE final
report on the 2002 Ukrainian parliamentary elections noted that 40
candidates were de-registered in the week prior to the ballot. "These
late decisions made an appeal to the courts problematic, if not
impossible," the OSCE concluded.

In addition, the Crimean Election Commission de-registered Crimean
Communist leader and Supreme Soviet Chairman Leonid Grach on 25
February 2002 because he allegedly filled out his income declaration
incorrectly. But the CEC did not remove Grach's name from the Communist
Party of Ukraine (KPU) list in the national parliamentary elections.
That discrepancy led many to conclude that Grach's exclusion from the
Crimea ballot was politically motivated. The Crimean Appeals Court
rejected Grach's complaint at his exclusion from the Crimea ballot only
on 29 March 2002, just two days before the elections, when it was too
late to reverse the decision in the courts. With Grach out of the way,
the pro-presidential "party of power" in the Crimea, the Popular
Democratic Party (NDP), which since 1998 had controlled the Crimean
government, was able to expand its control to encompass the Crimean
Supreme Soviet, which Grach had chaired until then. This mirrored a
similar strategy in Kyiv, where the "party of power" also took control
of all institutions after the elections.

The same ploy of stripping candidates of their registration at the last
minute was used during the Sumy election last month when the joint
opposition candidate, Serhiy Klochko, was accused of not properly
declaring a miniscule donation and of allegedly not providing a
truthful biography. The Committee of Voters of Ukraine NGO described
this decision as "politically motivated."

As in the case of Grach in 2002, when a decision is made to remove a
candidate the authorities produce the necessary financial "evidence" to
disqualify him. In a country where half the GDP has been produced in
the shadow economy since the 1990s, most Ukrainians have been forced to
survive by not necessarily always following the law. As to items
"presented wrongly" on a biography, these can be interpreted in
different ways by the candidate and the authorities.

The Ukrainian opposition fears that former Prime Minister and Our
Ukraine Chairman Viktor Yushchenko could also be disqualified on "minor
technical grounds" days before the October 2004 elections. This would
leave the field open to a repeat of the 1999 presidential elections
where the "party of power" faced the KPU in the second round. In 1999,
the unpopular "party of power" (in the person of incumbent President
Leonid Kuchma) won because of the large number of negative votes
against KPU leader Petr Symonenko.

Of the four opposition groups -- Yushchenko's Our Ukraine, the Yuliya
Tymoshenko Bloc, Oleksandr Moroz's Socialists, and the KPU -- only the
first three have tentatively agreed to unite behind one candidate
(Yushchenko) for the 2004 elections. The KPU and Our Ukraine are
mutually hostile and Symonenko is on record as stating he will stand as
the KPU's candidate in 2004.

The authorities fear a united opposition candidate and would prefer
that the leaders of all four opposition groups stand individually in
the 2004 elections to split the opposition vote. If Yushchenko stands
as a united noncommunist candidate (backed by Moroz and Tymoshenko), he
would be guaranteed to enter the second round and would be unopposed in
western, central, and northern Ukraine. The "party of power" candidate
would then have a difficult task of beating Symonenko (the KPU vote
averages 15-20 percent) to make it to the second round.

In the Sumy mayoral election on 18 May, joint opposition candidate
Klochko, whom pre-election polls found to be the favorite, was
de-registered two days before the election. The reason given was not
declaring a miniscule donation of 50 hryvni ($10) to the Sumy Social
Fund in Defense of Youth. Klochko's de-registration left the field open
for a victory by "party of power" candidate Volodymyr Omelchenko, an
adviser to Sumy Oblast Governor Volodymyr Shcherban.

A video was distributed prior to the Sumy election entitled "The Bare
Truth About Oleksandr Moroz," which alleged that the opposition
candidate, Klochko, also a Socialist, is a homosexual. Such
discrediting tactics were used by the KGB in the Soviet era against
Ukrainian and Armenian dissidents. Commenting on the Sumy election,
Yushchenko characterized the present Ukrainian leadership as "a bandit
regime that is not interested in transparent elections and demonstrates
disrespect for its own citizens."

Two further local elections are to be held on 8 June in Zaporizhzhya,
where Our Ukraine candidate Petro Sabachuk was encouraged to resign
from his bloc in mayoral elections, and in Chernihiv for a
parliamentary seat. In Chernihiv, the joint opposition candidate is
Dmytro Ivanov against whom, a statement by Moroz's Socialists published
in the parliamentary "Holos Ukrayiny" on 23 May claimed, "impermissible
methods of provocations and slanders" are already being used.

The use of such election tactics suggests that, as elsewhere in the
CIS, Ukraine's leaders do not believe in the concept of free and equal
competition during elections that the "party of power" might lose. For
the leadership of CIS states, election defeat means not just the loss
of political power, but also the loss of their businesses,
vulnerability to new and stringent anticorruption measures, and being
called to account for their actions when they were in power. But at the
same time, the continued resort to blatantly unfair elections will
negatively affect Ukraine's efforts toward Euro-Atlantic
integration.Dr. Taras Kuzio is a resident fellow at the Centre for
Russian and East European Studies, University of Toronto, and a
visiting fellow at the Institute for Security Studies-EU, Paris.